


Deep Water

by ScribeOnTheSide



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Awkward Romance, F/F, Feelings Realization, Light Angst, Nudity, Water, but in a fun way, effie deserves all the love and the game never gives her any and treats her like a freak, jerk bandits who never had a chance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-22 17:36:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11385075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScribeOnTheSide/pseuds/ScribeOnTheSide
Summary: Effie tries to figure out what is wrong with her friend Hana but social skills are not her strong point.  A crisis of faith in their relationship and a meeting with bandits near a lake helps clear things up for the two women.





	Deep Water

**Author's Note:**

> This one was super hard for some reason. The image of Effie emerging from the lake is what really drove this one to completion as that had to get out there in the ether. It also was a delayed response to how FE:Heroes made her a weird swimsuit issue, photo-shopped version of herself. That isn't my Effie. My Effie wears full armor and wields a heavy lance. My Effie eats to fuel that body. She has the weight and muscles required to be able to effectively handle all of that and does her best to ignore the haters.

Effie tried to let her body relax, muscle by aching muscle. Today’s battle had been hard fought and expensive in both pain and lives. But with the castle captured, it wouldn’t be long now before the war would be over. Then it would be back to Nohr and protecting her princess. Effie thought about how boring that seemed now after all the real battles. Sighing, she refocused on releasing the tension wreaking havoc with her system. Time enough to deal with that later.

The placid lake water swirled around her limbs as they swayed ever so slightly, just enough to keep her face above water as she floated. Being able to bathe without prying eyes was a luxury not often found in a war zone. Effie never felt comfortable stripping down with the men, or the women for that matter. She’d swallow down her nervousness and act like she didn’t notice the judgement or curiosity of others but she did. Effie would remind herself that she’d spent a lifetime training this body into the strongest it could be, looks be damned.. She wished the weight of their ridiculous expectations of females, that she *always* failed to meet, counted towards her daily workouts. If they did, she’d be twice as strong by now. Right here, right now though, none of that mattered. These precious minutes of solitude gave her the opportunity to let the water carry the load of her physical mass and freed her mind to wander. 

With all the battles lately, ‘thinking’ hadn’t been a priority. Now, thoughts tumbled and pushed for position within her brain. The ones that bubbled to the top were, as always, thoughts of Hana. The tiny but tough samurai seemed to occupy every free inch of Effie’s mind these days. 

Since they’d been introduced, the two women were inseparable. Hana could see beyond Effie’s surface, beyond the stoic demeanor, beyond the defense mechanisms. And even with all that, Hana still befriended her, a fact that baffled Effie every single day. The swift, fiery fighter actually seemed to truly like her. Aside from Benny (who was friends with anyone he could train with), she couldn’t really say that about anyone else. People seemed put off by her gruff nature, a shield used to protect her from the world’s unkind comments. But not Hana. 

Hana came to her for training but stayed to talk, opening Effie’s eyes to the beauty around her. After a childhood full of disappointment and a lifetime of looking only for the dangerous, it was like a dark curtain dropping from her world. For example, Hana loved flowers. Effie had no reason to notice them before but through Hana’s eyes, she developed an appreciation for the delicate things, especially the cherry blossoms that were perfect for only a moment in time. Effie, in return, opened up, although slowly. While she loved to talk about Princess Elise’s escapades, a new type of training she’d heard about, and and other light topics, it took Effie a while to talk about her past life as a child in the slums of Nohr or to hint at the pain she carried around from careless people with careless words. Hana accepted it all, the good and the bad, as simply different aspects of her new friend and Effie adored her for it, even as she struggled to understand why her stomach flipped excitedly every time she saw her. 

Their current orders kept them from crossing paths but Hana usually found time to grab a quick chat at dinner with her. The conversations weren’t serious usually. They spent a lot of time discussing rumored weapons techniques and gossiping about the royal families and their retainers, an activity that Effie never knew could be so entertaining. Hana couldn’t get enough of the latest Niles quips while Effie was fascinated with Subaki’s beauty regimen. The Nohrian knight treasured this time and this particular Hoshidan. 

The last few weeks though had been different. Hana seemed distracted and distant. Their usual relaxed conversations turned more stilted and forced. Things just felt...awkward. Effie frowned, pushing at the water a little and thinking about how someone with an ounce of social skills wouldn’t be having these problems. She was confused and more than a little worried. Did she cause this? Did she do something wrong? Effie tried to broach the subject multiple times but she usually, by the time she’d worked her way around to it, dinner would be done and Hana had to get back to Sakura. 

Effie felt herself mentally travelling down a well-trod path. It had to be her. Maybe Hana finally realized there wasn’t much to her after all. Or she just wanted to get as much training as she could before moving on, having no more use for her. It’s not like that hadn’t happened before. How could she be so stupid....

Effie took a deep breath and dove under the still water. Submerged in the hazy green-blue light, she focused inward and silenced the critical voice boring into her consciousness. She wouldn’t give into it today. Hana was her friend. She wouldn’t pull away without a reason. Instead of making up crazy scenarios, she needed to support her until Hana felt comfortable talking about whatever it was. Or if she never did, then until it was handled and she returned to her old self. Either way, Effie’s job was to be there for her in any way she could, not wallowing in self-pity and self-criticism. No sir, not this time. Hana was worth fighting for. Now, why were her lungs hurting? Oh, right…

With a kick of her powerful legs, Effie broke the surface of the lake, gasping for air. With newfound determination and a gameplan, she began to swim to shore. Nearing land, the knight noticed a figure sitting on a rock next to her gear. A slight breeze crossing the water lifted the brown waves of hair away from the figure’s face, but Effie didn’t need that to know it was Hana. The skip in her heartbeat announced the small samurai’s presence loud and clear. 

Hana’s knees were pulled up under her chin with her arms wrapped around them, watching Effie as she stopped a few yards out where her feet could touch the muddy lake bottom. She walked forward just far enough to get her neck and shoulders out of the water. Hana watched quietly before sliding off the rock and taking the few steps to the water line, a somber expression on her face. 

Effie struggled to remember all those perfectly formed sentences she’d come up with a few minutes before, those words to let Hana know how much she meant to her and that she would always be there, no matter what. But instead, she awkwardly pushed her soaked hair back from her forehead and gave her a crooked smile.  
“Uhhhh… Hi there? I didn’t think you’d be free for hours so I...uhh…thought I’d better at least wash off the blood before dinner. You harassed me about it last time, so… you know…”

She trailed off as what she wanted to say evaporated from her brain. This was going super well, she thought with a groan.

Hana tilted her head as if contemplating how to respond. Finally, she gave a small smile in return.  
“I’m sorry. Lady Sakura wanted to take a nap before this evening’s celebration of our win. Thought I’d hunt you up for a talk. Didn’t mean to interrupt your bath.”

Effie blanched.  
“A...a talk? With me? About what?”  
This must be it. Hana was leaving. Effie took a deep, slow breath to steady herself. She must remember her pep talk from earlier. No jumping to conclusions. Stay in the moment. Listen to her friend. All of which was much, much harder than it sounded.

Hana kicked a loose rock into the water, not looking in the water-logged knight’s direction.  
“Just stuff. Lately, things have been… well… I dunno...ummm… Are you planning on ever coming out of the water?”

Effie blushed. “There's a bit of a problem with that. You see, I’m….”

“Well, well, well… what do we have here, men? A couple of damsels in distress!.” 

The deep gravely voice slithered through the air as five bandits, armed with swords, emerged from the woods behind Hana. She turned to face them, stepping back to the rock where she’d left her sword. They were taking their time in approaching, obviously looking to make sure there weren’t others around and spreading out. The one speaking was in the center, obviously the alpha male of the group. Hana directed her attention to him while keeping the others in sight. 

“Not in distress. Just cleaning up after the fighting of the day. No help needed...Thank you for the kind offer, _sir_.” she added as her hand closed upon the hilt of her weapon. 

The lead bandit laughed.  
“No help, eh? Maybe you two can help us then. Boys, shall we?”

Hana’s weapon flew from its scabbard just as a splashing noise caught her attention. The bandits pulled up short at the sound, looking past Hana and her katana to the water behind her. The small samurai glanced over her shoulder in time to see Effie, water dripping off her muscular frame and streaming from her hair. Her lance was in her hand, retrieved from the water’s edge where she’d stuck it for safekeeping. She wore… Hana blushed and looked at the pile of clothing next to the rock she’d been sitting on. There were *all* of Effie’s things, nice and dry. Hana looked back. Her friend looked like an avenging sea goddess, emerged from the depths to teach these men a lesson. In fact, she looked....good, very good. With a quick shake of her head, Hana got back to the problem at hand, 

At first the bandits laughed at the sight of the naked lance knight, but she stared them down, one by one, the fierceness of her glare silencing their mirth. Maybe this wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought. 

Hana grinned and turned to the two bandits on her right. Effie faced the ones on the left.

“Two for you and two for me, baby girl? Race you to the one in the middle.” Hana said lightly.

“That wouldn't be a race. Even dressed, or, well, not dressed like this, bet I beat you there!”

“We’ll see about that!”

\-----------------------------------------------

After splashing water on her limbs to remove the dirt smudges from the latest battle, Effie pulled on her clothing and squeezed the remaining water out of her hair before winding it back up on top of her head. She should have been embarrassed but wasn’t. She’d bested three swordsmen with nothing but her lance and a few cuts and bruises for souvenirs. Things like this were what made her dedication and work worth it she thought as she looked at the pile of unconscious, bound men in the center of the clearing. But the best part was Hana looking at her with a new appreciation in her eyes. It was probably for her fighting skill but that look was different than she’d seen before and made her stomach start that familiar flutter.

Tired from the fight but riding high on adrenaline, Effie decided to take the plunge and face her worries head on. She took a deep breath and spoke, words flowing quickly, racing to get out before she changed her mind.

“Hana, can I ask you something? Is there anything I can help you with? I know something is bothering you and that you don’t want or can’t talk about it. I won’t push you to talk unless you want but I want you to know that I will always be here. To listen, to chat, to spar, to eat, to do whatever it is that you need so you can get through it. Just tell me what you need. Let me help!”

Hana looked startled for a moment then gave a short laugh. 

“That’s...that’s really funny. I came down here to try and explain why things seem so off with us.” 

She ran her katana along the cleanest part of her sleeve, drying it off. After safely stowing her weapon back into its scabbard, she set it down next to Effie’s lance that she’d already cleaned the blood from. Effie stopped herself from jumping in with an apology for one thing or another. Instead, she let the silence linger until Hana was ready. 

“Over the last few weeks, it feels like I’ve reached as far as I can go with our training. I’m never going to be as good as you there although I’m a lot better than when we started. I guess I started to worry that without that, there wasn’t a good reason for you to hang around once this war is over.”

Effie started to protest but Hana held up a hand to stop her.  
“ I know, I know…we all have our duties but the thought of you leaving made me realize how much I liked being around you, how much I...cared… for you. Your strength, your confidence, your lame attempt at jokes, I’d miss them all! The more I thought about it, the sadder I got and the harder it was to hang out. Hence, all the awkwardness. So, there it is. I guess I wanted to come down here today to let you know and see what I can do to make it better. Cause I want to stay your friend... with or without anything more.”

Effie stood there with her mouth open. How could Hana have ever thought she’d willingly leave her behind? Her brain struggled to process but finally just gave up and settled on one simple, clear thought. Hana wanted to stay with her and she wanted to stay with Hana. 

The samurai shifted from foot to foot, watching her.

Finally, aware she’d been taking too long to answer, Effie smiled bashfully.  
“My jokes aren’t *that* bad, are they?”

Hana laughed.  
“They are uniquely bad. That’s why I love them so much. Only you could get away with them.”

Effie took Hana’s hand, being careful to squeeze it as gently as she could.  
“I want nothing more than to be your friend...and anything else you’d like.”

Hana released the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.  
“Oh thank god! After that spectacular exit from the water today, just friends would have been ridiculously hard.” 

Hana caught Effie’s collar and pulled her slowly forward. Effie reached out to stroke Hana’s hair before…

“Oi, Wenches! Get a room!”

With a sigh and a grin, Hana lifted Effie’s hand to her lips..  
“I’ll be right back. There’s some ‘business’ I must attend to.”

Effie watched her stalk towards the bandit leader who realized his mistake the moment the samurai turned her eyes towards him. 

“That’s my girl”, she thought happily.


End file.
